Chapter 1 - The Oasis that wasnt

They say some crucial fateful decisions are made during the worst period of our lives – they trigger a series of unimaginable, unforeseen pains, not to mention loss of wealth and a general sense of delusion. 

My parents always believed I would be a doctor, so did I. However, it was not as easy as a 4 year old playacting with a plastic doctor kit. There were a couple of hurdles to cross before one could make that a reality - the not so easily surmountable entrance exams, which to say was infact the litmus test. And with a 1250 rank I was not even close enough of making that dream come true. 

We sat glaring at the newspaper, heartbroken and confused on what our next step would be. "Well, you have got a 3300 on your engineering entrance, may be we could get into an engineering college,” said my father trying to infuse hope into the otherwise grim environment. (I hope you noticed the "We")

“We do not have any other choice, do we. Only if you had joined Brilliant tutorials…,” said my mother half heartedly with a tinge of accusation in her tone.

After back and forth, a lot of tears and screaming, it was decided thus. We alighted the Kannur-Trivandrum express to attend my interview a month later. 

 And what I thought about the whole affair, sorry I was not allowed to think, that right had been taken away when I failed to qualify for the medical entrance. Ya I guess I had too much fun right before the entrance exams, I mean what was I thinking I should not have slept that extra one hour and got up at 3am instead of 4am everyday. Well, to be honest, the strict routine was adapted only a week before the exam. Prior to that, I had the time of my life when I did my coaching at Calicut with a fun study gang that loved to gossip, drinking more than prescribed amount of homeopathic medicine (10% alcohol) supposedly to increase brain power. It certainly did, I learnt to relax and sleep quite efficiently. 

It wasnt that I wasnt a good student but I think somewhere I lacked the drive to put in that extra effort. Maybe it was for the best (and maybe not). Now as I sat at the admission office going over my prospects of acquiring an engineering seat, my morale was taking a serious hit, I could get into civil engineering on a free seat or get a payment seat for IT in an aided college. Somehow I could not picture myself as an IT professional, I was not so good at the logic, so I beleived (haha the joke was on me, for years from then I would make a successful shift to IT). 

Time was running out and I had to make a quick decision, my parents kept barraging me with the word IT, IT …when my eyes caught the sight of something new and unexpected - Architecture. I had apparently qualified for an architecture seat, and somehow that felt better. My imagination ran wild as I pictured myself as an architect in a big office on a high rise building, it was a cool picture, and it sounded great too, Architect Priya. Somehow the idea appealed to my parents too and we jumped on the possibility and voila I had got myself into architecture at CET, one of the most prestigious colleges of Kerala. 

I was a little concerned about the distance from home and how I would be in total alien territory. Ya Trivandrum may be part of Kerala but they are a different story from the rest of Kerala, so I was told but I had taken the plunge and it was final.